Doc

Surprisingly, we get into the same thing in hunting topics, and sometimes even worse. How about we learn how to converse in a civil fashion instead of curtailing topic selections? Asking a bit much ....eh?

Lol ..... wait until the day an escaped female cat bumps into an escaped male. Ha-ha-ha-ha .... my goodness, a breeding population of mountain lions. What is with these jerks that want a mountain lion for a pet?

Yes, I can understand some trust issues when you're talking about any government body or agency. But I think in this case they are simply admitting that they blew it and didn't allocate adequate time for the process. That in itself is quite amazing that they would ever admit to being wrong about anything.......lol. That might even be a first!

I would like to do it to if somebody would invent snake-bite boots that zip up over my head. I can't imagine tramping around in the tall grass in snake infested swamps and fields. I did see a rig used down there that would take care of my snake problems. It was some kind of truck-thing that had the hunters sitting about 8' up in the air. That might do it .... lol.

My take from the article was that they wanted an adequate amount of time to properly conduct and analyze public input on the ideas. With the publishing times being a set amount of time, the only way to shorten up the cycle time would be to short-circuit the public inputting activity. I am quite happy that they are not willing to do that.

Frankly, it is getting to be irritating to see just about every thread here being turned into name-calling, flame wars. Is that really the only way that you people know of to respond on a forum? Is this really what your personalities consist of? Relax a bit and try some civility.

I would suggest that you simply plan on working out with the compound on April 15th regardless of what happens with crossbows. Don't look at using a bow during bow season as being some kind of penalty.

We have 2' of snow and ugly cold temperatures, and the deer are not moving very much. No tracks across lawn, or any sign of visits to the bird feeder which has been a daily thing prior to this last storm and cold-snap. I have no clue where they are and what they are doing because since this last storm and cold-snap, I haven't been moving around very much either ..... lol.

Have you had a chance to eat any of the pig-meat. I have heard two different opinions on wild hog meat, and was just wondering what your opinion is.

I was just sitting here reading about "Winter Camping" while listening to the wind howling outdoors and knowing that the temperature is -8 degrees. Guess I'll move on to another topic now....lol.

I would think the best way to handle x-bow hunter safety training would be to include the mechanics of crossbow shooting into the existing bowhunter training classes, and require that course to hunt with a crossbow. That way they get familiar with the way broadheads work, where to aim for most effective killing with a broadhead, and other features of killing through hemorrhaging/cutting rather than impact killing. Much of the hunting procedures would apply, and the limitations could be taught. The problem with adding more unique, weapons-specific courses, is that there is a lot of repetition, and huge amounts of time required for each one. When you start stacking up 3 or 4 of these courses, the time required gets darn near prohibitive and no doubt discourages a lot of participation. Think about it ..... firearms courses, bowhunting course, trapping courses, now add in a new x-bow course. Pretty soon somebody will be coming up with a fishing course ..... lol. Enough, already.

Rimfire reloading: http://22lrreloader.com/design-details/

Throwing the baby out with the bath water

Sounds like all the deer season restrictions and other tinkering and bending to public pressure groups is being put off for another year. According to the most recent issue of NYON, the DEC has announced a postponement due to time. So these concessions and allowing the NYS hunters run the deer management programs will have to wait for another year.

Yeah, we have had some heated discussions on this site regarding this subject. I'm not sure what causes people to lose their minds over this, but must say there are a lot of good reasons and logic involved in doubting, since no one over all these decades has produced any tangible evidence (no remains, no provable documented photos, none having ever been killed on the highway or anywhere else, no documented scat, etc.,etc.). So there probably is no reason to believe rumors or doctored photos, or other claims. The only thing that has to be allowed is the possibility of a single wandering cat passing through, or some domesticated mountain lion that has escaped or purposely turned loose. When you ask about mountain lions in NYS, you really have to ask only about a breeding population, since that really is what people are trying to get at. I have to say that logically, it is highly unlikely

I was watching one of those game warden shows yesterday where they live-trapped a problem bear and then released it in a different area. They knew the real problem was the familiarity that the neighborhood bear had with humans and the fact that they were losing their natural cautiousness. So the trick was when the door to the cage was opened, they had a few department employees around, hollering, and a bunch of leashed dogs barking, and a guy with bean-bag rounds in a gun. The bear was ready to get the hell out of there before they even opened the door. As the bear bolted, he got a few swats from the bean bags, and after he got out a ways, the dogs were let loose and they pushed him right up the hill and started him off exactly where they wanted him to go. Apparently the dogs are well trained to come back when they are called. The whole experience was to make his association with humans, and suburbia and dogs as unpleasant as possible and something that he would always remember. However, they did mention that it doesn't always work perfectly and on a couple of occasions, they did have some bears that did a U-turn and came back after the workers. In those cases, the dogs put him back on course.

I suspect some of them will probably take up bowling or squirrel hunting or something ..... lol. Imagine what it would be like to be in an area of low deer population, with little or no chance at an antlerless permit, and then someone comes along and tells you that more than like the chances are pretty good that any buck that comes along will not be legal to shoot. That's kind of like telling someone that you are welcome to spend your money on a license, and go out and sit in the woods, but you can't take anything. Sounds like a real deal to me. I think I would likely find another pastime. A trip to the supermarket will be necessary if they want that freezer filled.

And the best way to eliminate that is to eliminate all special seasons and just have one season that includes all weapons. That's kind of where things are heading these days anyway. Special seasons are simply something to call a segment of the year, not so much a limitation of what weapons should be used. That went out the window decades ago.

Yup!

One of those rare times when I am speechless. She said it all!

The problem is that the "doe option" isn't available to everyone everywhere in NYS. There are WMUs that have no permits, and others where they are severely limited. See that's the problem. Everyone tends to only see what is going on in their backyard and try to dream up restrictions and regulations to spread all over the state.

I would have thought that the Florida Fish & Wildlife Service would already have what they need for handling such problem bears, up to and including live traps for re-locating problem bears. I suspect that this is just a publicity stunt trying to make it appear that the organization does really do something that is useful.

Maybe we should carry copies of the last paragraph of this article and hand them out when asked any of the "WHY" questions ..... lol.

I have no idea of who the guy is that wrote that rambling essay, or why I spent the time reading all of that. It was signed simply MJ, with no info on why his opinion is any more important or credible than any of ours. I will say that the AR lobby is a very dedicated, vocal, and determined group of hunters that have used every thing at their disposal to pressure the DEC to yield to their voice. Good idea? .... Bad idea? .... I have no real predictions. I do believe that passing AR and/or some of these other pop-fad management ideas will likely cost some unknown amount of our dwindling hunter base. That seems to be the current trend, to be regulating our numbers away. Hey, if that's what the majority of hunters want, I am getting a bit too old to be losing sleep over it. The future of hunting will be whatever it will be with or without my concern ..... lol.

Then throw down that crappy old crossbow and stay with modern rifles. The rifle is still the "most effective weapon available". You can't have it both ways. Those of us who take up the limitations of archery hunting do so with it in mind that we want the challenge of a limited weapon. That is the whole point to the "special" archery season. Bow season was initially established as a way of handicapping the hunter with a weapon that requires rigid technique and exceptional hunting skills that require the ability to operate in close proximity to the prey. Since the day of it's inception, people have been working diligently to destroy the intent behind the original season and slowly evolve it back toward some other version of "gun season". Almost all of that evolution has been done in the name of using "the most effective weapon available". If you are serious about that statement, then you must believe that the introduction of bow season was a real bad idea whether you are using a longbow, recurve, compound or crossbow.